.
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful.
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful.
Let's open up our handbooks to song number 10.
We'll turn our handbooks to song number 10.
Knee of the Cross.
Song number 10.
Knee of the Cross.
Welcome to All Ladies. You don't necessarily have to be a mother or have your mother with you.
If you're a lady, you're welcome to attend.
So if you'd like more details about that, you can always speak with my wife and she'll fill you in.
And that will do it for announcements this morning. Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching.
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
The rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
And there, at this time, we'll pass you over the plate as it goes around.
Let's open up our Bibles to 1 Corinthians, chapter 5.
That's 1 Corinthians, chapter 5.
As always, we'll read the entire chapter.
Please follow the law silently.
Brother Gabriel reads to us from 1 Corinthians, chapter 5.
1 Corinthians, chapter 5.
Verse 1 of the Bible reads,
Verse 2 of the Bible reads,
Thank you so much. Thank you for your goodness and mercy.
Thank you for the opportunity to be in your house, Lord.
Just bless the service, Lord God.
And build deacon with your spirit.
Just give us a heart understanding, Lord.
Thank you for all you do for us.
In Jesus' holy name we pray. Amen.
Amen. So, 1 Corinthians, chapter 5.
You have a topic that's being dealt with that, quite frankly, isn't very popular today.
It's not something you're going to hear preached in a lot of churches.
It's certainly not going to be something you see practiced very often in churches.
And that is the practice of church discipline.
And this is something I've preached about in the past,
but it's always good to go over these things and to be reminded of these things.
And also, I want to preach this just so I can make myself very clear
about what we believe and what we practice here
when it comes to this topic of church discipline.
So, we're going to look at the six sins of 1 Corinthians.
That's kind of a way that I can remember where these sins are found.
It's the six sins of 1 Corinthians 5.
You take the six sins minus the one in 1 Corinthians, you get five.
So, that's just like a mnemonic that I use to kind of remember that.
But that's the title of the sermon.
The six sins of 1 Corinthians.
Now, let's just get into the text here.
It says in verse 1,
It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you,
and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles,
that one should have his father,
as named among the Gentiles,
that one should have his father's wife.
So, Paul here is pretty incredulous.
You can hear the tone coming across here,
that he's saying the sin that's in your church,
it's the type of sin that even among the unsaved,
the heathen, the Gentiles, isn't even named.
And that's the sin of one having his own father's wife.
Now, this can be a little bit confusing
because you might say,
well, if he's fornicating with his father's wife,
wouldn't that make it adultery?
So, obviously, what's taking place here
is that the father has died.
And I feel confident in saying that
because the Bible makes a very clear distinction
between fornication and adultery.
Those are two completely different things.
That's an important distinction to make
in the day and age that we're living in
when people kind of want to blur that line
and kind of blend those two sins
and kind of make them equal.
They're not equal.
There's different levels to sin.
There's varying degrees of punishment to sin,
as we'll see this morning.
I mean, we have six sins here in 1 Corinthians
that are punished with church discipline,
meaning you are thrust out from the local assembly
until you get that right.
Obviously, that's not because these are the only sins
that people are capable of committing.
People are capable of committing all kinds of different sins,
but it's these six that we are limited to
when it comes to exercising church authority
and church discipline.
So there's a very clear distinction here being made
between fornication and adultery.
The Bible makes that abundantly clear
that there's a difference there.
And again, you can make this case here.
This is easy to see.
And if you would, go over to 2 Corinthians 2.
Keep something in 1 Corinthians 5 all morning.
We'll be back there several times this morning.
But the father has died.
So therefore, we know that the father has died here
because of the fact that
he's committing fornication
and he's not committing adultery here
because the spouse is no longer there.
Now, this is a very serious sin, by the way,
when a man would have his father's wife.
This is something that is dealt with in the Old Testament.
And sometimes you read about these things that are taking place
or you read things in the Old Testament
and you say to yourself,
why would God even need to include that?
Are people even capable of doing these type of things?
And the truth is that they are.
People, even Christians in churches,
will do things that they know is not right.
They will do things that are contrary to the word of God
and they will do so willingly.
And they'll do bizarre things even.
I'm not even getting into all the bizarre things
that the heathen do sometimes.
But this specific sin of a man having his father's wife
is repeatedly condemned in the Old Testament
in Leviticus 18, Leviticus 20,
Deuteronomy chapter 22, Deuteronomy 27.
I won't read all these,
but I'll give you Deuteronomy 27 verse 20.
Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife
because he uncovereth his father's skirt
and all the people shall say amen.
So this guy is bringing down a curse on his head
by committing this sin.
Now let me say, as a church body,
we are not here to enforce Old Testament law.
Obviously there's moral principles and things
that we take from the Old Testament and apply.
There's things that we exercise as a church body.
But society today, and you've probably already noticed this,
isn't exactly cleaving to the Bible,
going to it for its source of determining what is right and wrong,
of forming laws and enforcing them.
The Bible's kind of an afterthought.
It hasn't always been that way.
Back when our country was a godlier nation
at its founding and thereon, going forward from there,
it was a biblical nation.
It was a nation where people, even if they weren't saved,
understood and respected the Bible.
Many of our founding fathers based
what they put in the Constitution
and the other founding documents on the Bible.
That's just a fact.
But today in the world we're living in,
society is not embracing Scripture.
And they're certainly not enforcing law here
based on the Old Testament.
Well, let's move on here.
Look at 2 Corinthians 2.
2 Corinthians 2 in verse 6.
It says,
Sufficient to such a man is this punishment,
which was inflicted of many,
so that contrary-wise you ought to forgive him
and comfort him,
perhaps lest such a one should be swallowed up
with overmuch sorrow.
Wherefore, I beseech you
that you would confirm your love toward him.
So who is this talking about?
Well, if you know the book of 2 Corinthians,
you know Paul here is referring back to the man
in 1 Corinthians 5,
the man that had been committing fornication
with his father's wife.
Okay, we get into 2 Corinthians 2
and he's again addressing that man
and what does he say?
That they inflicted this punishment upon him
and then now he's imploring them to forgive that man
and to confirm their love toward him
that he should be received
because obviously he got this right.
He quit committing that adultery
or that fornication, excuse me.
So this man, he later repents
and Paul insists on his being forgiven.
So this is the purpose of church discipline.
The purpose of church discipline
is so that people will get things right.
It's not for us to pound our chests
and feel like we're holier than thou
or something like that.
It's not to shame people.
Well, I guess it is in a sense to shame people,
but it's not for the sake of shaming people.
People should be ashamed of committing certain sins.
And they should be ashamed of any sin really,
but the purpose of church discipline ultimately
is that people would get their act together spiritually
and that they would cut out certain sins,
all sins, especially sins that are punished
by the local church.
Now if you would, go back to 1 Corinthians 5.
Obviously today we're living in a time
when the world is not going to punish sin
according to Scripture.
The Old Testament lays out not just a moral law,
but it lays out a civil law for Old Testament Israel
that they were to follow.
And it gives them laws to enforce,
several of which were punished with capital punishment,
the death penalty.
And obviously today, society isn't enforcing that.
However, God himself is not bound by man's decree.
And that's something to keep in mind
when you're reading through 1 Corinthians 5,
is that society might look at fornication
and these other sins and say,
oh, it's no big deal,
that's just old-fashioned values,
that's just outdated conservatism, whatever.
But God is not outdated.
The Bible, the word of God is not outdated.
The world might slough it off,
they might brush it off
and just say it's nothing to be concerned about.
They might even glorify it.
They're not going to call adultery adultery today.
They're going to call it having an affair.
They're not going to call it fornication.
They're not going to call it by that filthy sin that it is.
They're going to call it experimenting,
finding out who you're compatible with,
getting to know one another.
The Bible calls it fornication,
it calls it uncleanness,
it calls it filthiness,
it calls it vile.
Those are the Bible words that are used
to describe that sin.
And again, that's not what the world's going to say,
but then again, God isn't limited
by the culture that we're living in.
He doesn't operate based on societal norms.
God isn't looking down and asking man
what he thinks is acceptable
and then conforming to them.
God is not bound by man's degree.
Look at 1 Corinthians 5 where we were.
In verse number 2 it says,
And you are puffed up and have not rather mourned
that he that hath done this deed
might be taken away from among you.
So Paul's rebuking the church
for not disciplining this sin.
This is why you have to enforce church discipline
because if people that are guilty of these sins
that we'll look at in a minute,
if they are not dealt with,
then we as a church body could be held accountable to God.
God's not going to bless a church
where the leadership and the body
just lets it become a den of iniquity.
And look, I'm not saying we're going to have
some sinless, perfect church.
That's impossible.
When we're going to get a bunch of sinners
together in one room,
we're going to have problems.
There's going to be personality conflicts,
there's going to be offenses,
but there's also going to be
potentially other things that happen
that have to be dealt with
as a church body,
things of this nature,
these sick sins.
And look again, he says there in verse 2,
you're puffed up.
What does that mean to be puffed up?
It means to be arrogant.
It means to think you know better than God.
It means to think that,
well, I know that's what the Bible says,
but we're just so much more advanced.
That Bronze Age book,
those knuckle-dragging Baptists,
all that kind of mentality,
that's a puffed up mentality that's out there.
Another puffed up mentality that you can have
is as a church body where we just think,
well, you know, we're just more loving than God.
We're just more accepting than God.
We're more tolerant than God.
We just put up with more than God is.
We're just more forgiving and loving than God.
Because we understand what 1 Corinthians 5 and elsewhere says,
but we're just more tolerant.
We've evolved on these issues
and we're going to put up with this sin
because we're more loving.
That's a puffed up attitude.
And that's what God is rebuking this church about.
1 Corinthians, if you know the books,
1 Corinthians is not a church that you really want to model yourself after.
Basically, it's one long, scathing rebuke.
And 2 Corinthians is like a close second.
And he's saying here,
you're puffed up and you've not rather mourned.
Look, when there's certain things that start to go on in a church,
it should bother us.
If we see sin creeping in,
if we see things being tolerated that are not to be tolerated,
it should make us sad.
It should cause us to mourn.
That he that had done this deed might be taken away from among you.
Now what does he mean by that?
It means he should be put out from the church.
He should be taken away from the assembly.
He should not be permitted to attend services.
That's basically what it's saying.
Verse 3, for I, verily,
as absent in body but present in spirit,
have judged already as though I were present,
concerning him that has so done this deed.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
when you are gathered together,
when you get together at church,
Sunday morning, Sunday night, whenever you're getting together at church,
and you're gathered together, and my spirit,
it's as if I'm there with you,
I'm giving you the authority to do this,
with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
you have the blessing and the charge of God to do this,
to deliver such a wine unto Satan.
He's saying take that fornicator,
take that person that is sleeping with his father's wife,
and it's fornication, as I've already made that abundantly clear,
we're not talking about that the father has passed on,
and he's saying excommunicate him,
deliver him unto Satan.
That's a pretty harsh punishment.
I mean, that's, you know, what Paul just said
about delivering such a wine unto Satan
for the destruction of the flesh
is far harsher than anything I've said thus far this morning.
You know, I just say the word kick somebody out of church.
Church discipline.
You know, excommunication and people,
oh, I can't believe you'd say that.
Well, you know, the Bible says,
what we're actually doing is delivering that person
unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh.
I mean, I'd have to sit here and try hard
to think of a more harsher way to put that.
You know, I can't really think of anything more,
you know, condemning than to say
I'm going to deliver you unto Satan, right?
I mean, that's pretty intense, okay?
But this is, you know, welcome to the King James Bible,
that the spirit may be saved
in the day of the Lord Jesus.
And let me say this, that, again, he's saying
do this with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So God honors this decision that's being made.
This isn't Paul speaking. This isn't his opinion.
This is something that God honors.
This is something that God, in fact, expects from a church.
And churches that, you know, by the way,
by and large, most churches today don't do this,
and you know what they are? They're puffed up.
They think they're better than Paul here,
better than the Lord Jesus Christ.
God honors the church's decree
when it comes to these things.
If you would, go to Matthew 18 very quickly,
Matthew chapter number 18,
where we'll see another passage
where, in certain instances,
issues of sin, of trespass,
are to be brought before the church
as a body and dealt with.
Look at Matthew chapter number 18, verse 15,
we'll see where God honors
the church's decree here.
He says, moreover, in verse 15 of Matthew 18,
if thy brother shall trespass against thee,
go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.
If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Now let me clarify here,
because some people latch on to Matthew 18
and they just run to extremes with it.
When it says, when thy brother shall trespass against thee,
we're talking about a more serious infraction.
Right? It's not, you know, I came to church
and he didn't even say good morning.
He didn't shake my hand.
You know, he treated, you know, he was rude.
You know, that's not the type of thing
we're talking about here, right?
Oh, you know, he insulted me.
You know, he said something.
He didn't want to be my friend.
You know, and you say, why are you bringing that up?
Because people do this.
People get petty and they have squabbles
and they have personal beef with somebody else in the church
and then they try to drag leadership in
and say, well, Matthew 18 here.
Says right here, you know, he trespassed against me
because he called me a mean name
in the church van or something.
It's like, well, first of all, grow up.
You know, just be, you know,
sticks and stones may break my bones
but words will never hurt me.
I mean, I remember learning that one
pretty early on in life.
You know, so someone in church doesn't like you
and doesn't want to have company with you
and maybe has a low opinion of you, so what?
You know, when they start slashing your tires
in the parking lot, then we'll deal with it.
Now, that's a trespass.
Yeah, we're gonna deal with that, right?
You know, we all have to come along.
You just have to be civil at church.
You don't have to be everybody's best friend.
You gotta be civil like you would anywhere else.
I don't think that's a big ask.
You know, and I'm not gonna be the type of guy
that insists that everybody that comes here
is just bosom buddies with everybody else in church
because that's not realistic.
You know, that's not reality.
People have different personalities, different preferences.
Not everybody's gonna be friends
but they can at least show up and be civil
and not slash your tires in the parking lot, you know,
or whatever.
You know, obviously that's a very malicious act
but what if it's just something that was kind of done,
you know, out of negligence, right?
Maybe they bumped into, you know, this is the classic example.
They bumped into your car at the parking lot
and I've seen the way some of you drive.
I mean, this could happen, right?
They bump into your car.
They put a dent in your fender
and, you know, you go to them and say,
hey, you know, let's get together.
Let's work this out.
You know, let's get exchange insurance
and they just drive off, okay?
That's kind of a legal issue, isn't it?
Because when you get into 1 Corinthians 6,
that's when Paul starts talking about them.
He then starts condemning the church
for brethren taking brethren to law.
So, you know, that's kind of the trespass
that we're talking about here
where there's legal implications
where, you know, it's not just your run-of-the-mill,
you know, offense.
This is something that's serious.
And he says here,
if thy brother trespass against thee,
go, you know, Matthew 18, that's where we are,
tell him his fault between thee and him alone.
Go work it out with him by yourself.
You know, maybe there's a business dealing
or something that takes place outside of the church
and someone shorts you on a bill
or, you know, doesn't pay an invoice or something like that.
Go to that brother and work that out
and say, hey, let's settle this.
And look, and that's just an example, okay?
But, it says in verse 18,
if he will not hear thee,
then take with thee one or two more
that in the mouth of two or three witnesses
every word may be established.
So he says if that guy that's trespassed against you,
that brother in the church,
doesn't want to resolve the issues,
then you go and get two other church members
to act as witnesses.
And by the way, those witnesses are to be
in different third parties.
They're just to witness.
You know, don't go get your best friend
who's gonna instantly side with you.
You know, I brought my spouse.
Like, well, gee, I wonder how they're gonna see things.
I wonder whose side they're gonna come down on, right?
Obviously, they're just there to say,
hey, this is what happened.
You know, maybe they document,
kind of write down what was said,
record it, whatever.
You know, letting people know,
hey, let's record this conversation.
Because if things aren't resolved,
we're gonna take it to the next level.
And if he shall neglect to hear them, right,
the one who has been offended
and the two or three witnesses,
tell it unto the church.
You know, so this is kind of the process.
Then you come to the church leadership and say,
hey, I tried to settle with him.
I got these two other witnesses.
They can confirm everything that's being said.
We're still not gonna resolve this thing.
You know, we need to settle this, okay?
That's when you bring it to the church
and then as a church body, we deal with it.
And you know, thank God we've never had to do this.
It doesn't mean we never will have to do it.
I pray not, but you know, we will if we have to.
And then look at verse 17.
And if he shall neglect to hear them,
tell it unto the church.
But if he neglect to hear the church,
let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.
You know, let him be somebody
that's held in low esteem, a heathen.
You know, put him out from the church.
Verily, I say unto thee,
verily I say unto you,
whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
What's he saying there?
He's saying whatever the church's decree,
as long as they're following this process,
I'm as God, as the Lord Jesus Christ,
I'm going to honor it.
Meaning if somebody has done something
that is worthy of church discipline
and it's exercised,
God is going to honor that decision
that the church has made.
God is going to bind it or loosen it,
just as we will, okay?
So, we see that, you know,
church discipline is a very real thing.
It's a biblical practice.
If you would, go back to
1 Corinthians chapter number 5.
So again, backing up a little bit,
he says in verse 5 again
to remind us of where we are in the text,
he says,
Deliver us such a one unto Satan
for the destruction of the flesh,
that the Spirit may be saved
in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Okay?
And if you remember earlier,
in just a few verses 4,
in verse 2,
he had said, you know,
you're puffed up.
And then he kind of reminds them again
in verse 6,
Your glorying is not good.
It's not a glory for you
to sit there and be puffed up
and think that you're more loving
and more kind and more affectionate
and more tolerant than God.
Okay?
Your glorying is not good.
Why?
Know ye not that a little leaven
leaveneth the whole lump?
And leaven being like yeast
that you would put in a bread, right?
You just put that little bit in there
and it leavens the whole lump.
It causes that whole lump
to be affected by that little bit of leaven.
I remember when I had a job
where we made the pizza dough by hand,
there was a great deal of flour
that went into that
and then very little yeast
that went in there to activate.
Right?
But, you know, that whole lump,
that 30 pizzas worth of dough,
all of it would rise
from just that little bit of leaven.
Right?
And Paul's using that analogy
when it comes to sin
in the local church.
This is why sin cannot be tolerant.
Certain sins specifically
have to be dealt with
in the local church.
It has to be dealt with
with church discipline.
Right?
People need sometimes
to be made an example of
for their own sake
and for the sake of those around them.
Okay?
For the sake of,
oh, I don't know,
maybe the young children.
Right?
You know, maybe it's good
for a church to kick out a fornicator,
you know,
so that way
the children will understand
that it's a serious sin
that has serious consequences.
And by the way,
the sin of fornication,
it's not just because God,
you know, is stuffy.
He's not just some stick in the mud
trying to ruin everyone's fun out there.
It's because fornication
is exactly what the Bible
describes it as,
filthy and unclean.
And that's why we have
the unspoken epidemic of,
you know,
STDs running rampant in our world
and everywhere else
that seems to have embraced
Western modern values.
It's, you know,
one in five people
have an STD out there today.
You know, why is that?
Because fornication isn't
viewed as it should be.
So, you know,
when we,
you know,
kick out the fornicator
at a church,
the children will say,
well, that's serious,
you know,
to be kicked,
it must be a very grave sin.
There must be a reason for it.
You know,
one,
so that person will knock it off
and spare themselves
and stop bringing reproach
upon the name of Christ.
And two,
you know,
so that the children
you know,
there are consequences for sin.
That's why we have to
exercise church discipline.
And he's saying, look,
a little leaven,
leavens the whole lump.
And by the way,
that's why when you go
in these churches
where they don't exercise
church discipline,
there's just all kinds
of sin running rampant.
And it's just,
it's normal.
You know,
you'll have people,
you know,
young people that are
committing fornication,
you'll have people that
are living together
outside of marriage,
you'll have people that
are, you know,
have been,
and remarried somebody else,
you know,
another person in the church.
There's literal couples
that come to the same church
where they basically wife swap.
They get divorced
and they just kind of
swap spouses.
That's wicked as hell.
It's strange and it's bizarre
and it has no place
in the local church.
You say,
how does that happen?
A little leaven
leavens the whole lump.
Oh, you know,
these teenagers,
they're going to do
what they're going to do.
Just make sure
they're doing it safely.
I mean,
no school system
when it comes to stuff anymore.
But, you know,
that's not our standard.
This is the standard,
right here.
This is what we practice
in all matters of faith,
this book.
So he says,
purge out the old leaven
that you may be a new lump
as you are unleavened.
For Christ our Passover
is sacrificed for us.
Therefore,
keep not the feast
with old leaven.
If you would,
I don't know if I had you
keep something
in 2 Corinthians,
chapter number 6.
Actually, you know what?
Just go to 2 Thessalonians 3.
2 Thessalonians 3.
I'll remind us again
of 2 Corinthians 6,
where we have another text
backing up
the practice of
church discipline.
He says,
sufficient to such a man
is this punishment
which was inflicted of many.
The punishment
was inflicted by many.
The many is the church.
The punishment was
inflicted by the church.
Verse 9,
and also did I write
that I might know
the proof of you
whether you be obedient
to all things.
He's saying,
I'm writing unto you
in 2 Corinthians.
I wrote 1 Corinthians
that I might know
the proof of you
whether you be obedient.
He's saying,
I wrote that first epistle
unto you
to know whether or not
you would do
what needs to be done,
to know the proof of you
whether you would be obedient.
What is it that he was insisting
they be obedient in?
Church discipline.
He's saying,
whether you would do
what you're supposed to do
as a church body.
It's a biblical practice.
Galatians chapter 6 verse 1.
Brethren, if a man
be overtaken in a fault,
ye which are spiritual
will restore such an one
in the spirit of meekness
considering thyself,
lest thou also be tempted.
How do you restore somebody?
You know,
first you have to
kick them out of the church
so that they realize
that there's consequences
for their sin
and hopefully it doesn't
come to a place
where Satan has to
destroy them.
You know,
as Paul said,
this isn't just me being
over the top up here.
Paul said,
deliver such an one
unto Satan
for the destruction
of the flesh.
You know,
we believe that Satan's real.
The Bible says Satan's real.
We live in a spiritual realm.
We are spiritual beings.
And he's saying,
deliver such an one
unto Satan
for the destruction of the flesh.
That's why in Galatians 6
he's saying,
restore such an one.
Look,
you can't restore somebody
who you haven't put
out of the church.
I believe Galatians 6
is a great,
you know,
another proof text
of church discipline.
How about 1 Timothy 1,
where Paul said,
Discharge,
I commend unto you,
Timothy,
according to the prophecies
which went before thee,
that thou by them
mightest war a good warfare,
holding faith
and a good conscience,
which some,
having put away
concerning faith,
have made shipwreck,
of whom is Hymenaeus
and Alexander,
whom I have delivered
unto Satan
for the destruction
of the flesh.
Paul himself is saying,
look,
I've delivered people
I've delivered
Hymenaeus and Alexander.
Well,
I can't believe he would
ever,
as a church body,
you know,
name somebody by name
and their sin
and make a decision
on it publicly.
Paul wrote the names
Hymenaeus and Alexander
in the Bible,
in the word of God.
It's literally engraved
in stone for all eternity.
You know,
I don't know
that these necessarily
were saved guys,
Hymenaeus and Alexander,
but it does say,
they'd shipwreck,
meaning they shipwrecked
their faith.
So I kind of take that as,
well, maybe they had faith,
they just kind of destroyed
their testimony or whatever.
They're blasphemous, right?
You could be saved
and be a blasphemer.
You know,
safe people could save
blasphemous things.
How would you like that?
So let's just,
you know,
benefit of the doubt.
Let's say,
Hymenaeus and Alexander
are saved
and they're in heaven
right now.
You know who else
is in heaven?
Paul.
And they're like,
thanks, Paul.
Do you have to write
our names out?
Do you have to put
our names in there?
Yep.
Right?
Because then it
carries weight,
doesn't it?
You say,
oh, you're just trying
to scare people
out of sin.
Yeah, exactly.
That's exactly right.
I'm trying to scare
people away from sin
because sin has
horrible consequences.
Lives are destroyed
because of sin.
Families are destroyed
because of sin.
So if the threat
of somebody being
called out publicly
for certain,
not every sin,
by the way,
I'm going to pass
the mic this morning
and I'll get up
and confess, you know,
all the sins we
committed this last week.
That's not what I'm saying.
You know, we're going
to get into the
six sins here.
They're very specific.
And when they happen,
in certain circumstances,
we are going to
call them out publicly
and if the threat
of that happening
keeps somebody,
if that alone
keeps somebody
from not committing them,
good.
Then good.
Then I want to do it.
You're in
2 Thessalonians 3,
Now we command you,
brethren, in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that you withdraw
yourselves from every
brother that walketh
disorderly, and not
after the tradition
which you have
received of us.
And he goes on to
explain what this
disorderliness is,
the tradition that
these people are
not walking after.
Right?
He says in verse 7,
For yourselves know
how you ought
to follow us,
for we behaved
not ourselves
disorderly among you.
Right?
He says, excuse me,
to withdraw from
a brother that
walks disorderly.
And then he says,
You know how we
have behaved ourselves
not disorderly.
Right?
Neither did we
eat any man's
bread for naught,
but we wrought
with labor and
travail night and day
that we might
not be chargeable
to any of you,
not because we
have not power
to make ourselves
an example unto
you to follow us.
For even when
we were with you,
this we commanded you
that if any
man should not
work, neither
should he eat.
Okay?
So Paul is saying
here, you know,
we came unto you
in Thessalonia,
and we made
ourselves an example,
even though we had
the power to receive
of the church,
to be taken care of
as laborers,
as those that
preach the gospel,
should live of
the gospel.
Right?
As full-time ministers
in the church,
we could have
received wages,
we could have
taken from you
what we needed
to survive,
and make ourselves
an example to those
that were walking
disorderly.
Right?
That's why he said
we rot with travail
night and day
that we would not
be chargeable
unto any of you,
that we wouldn't
have to take
anything from you.
Right?
So that's the
disorderliness that
he's talking about.
People who are
leeches and refuse
to work.
And look, I'm not
saying that, you know,
if you're not working
that you're in sin.
Like, obviously,
people have
pensions, savings,
you know,
and they make a
nest egg for
themselves, and
that's fine.
That's not what
I'm saying.
What I'm saying,
because the context
is, you know,
we're not making
ourselves chargeable
to any of you.
Neither did we
eat any man's bread.
When someone's
coming into the
church and is
refusing to work,
and then therefore
the church is having
to, like, well,
we can't let this
guy starve to death.
You know,
that's the
disorderliness.
You can't have
people just come in
and mooch off
the bum,
come in here,
and just start,
you know,
trying to take
people's money.
And this happens
all the time.
People call the
church all the time
because they never
darken the door.
They've never
attended the church.
They're probably
just going through
the phone book.
They don't even
know what church
they're calling.
And they're just like,
can you pay my rent?
Can you pay
my electric bill?
Can you pay
my car payment?
Can you pay
my insurance?
Can you pay
my rent to anybody
and everybody?
It's literally
against the law
to just hand out
money to strangers
from the church
coffers.
You can't do it.
It's a violation
of tax code, okay?
And people,
they don't even
realize that.
But, like,
secondly, you know,
we're not going
to just hand out
people who are just,
the only reason
they're down in the
dumps is because
they won't work.
It's called
disorderliness.
And Paul says,
as a church body,
if that were
to happen inside
them, right?
And that doesn't
mean when they
show up to church,
we give them
the cold shoulder.
You know,
the disorderly brother
who's refusing
to work sits down
and like everyone
just in that row
gets up and moves
to the other side
of the building
or something.
That's not,
you know,
to withdraw from them
means we're going
to have to put
them out and not
have anything
to do with them
until they get it
right.
Until they go
get a job
and get their
job right.
And that works.
It carries weight.
You know,
any parent who's
doing it right
knows this.
That children
will obey simply
out of fear of,
you know,
the consequences
of not obeying.
You know,
we practice
that as adults.
Obviously,
we're not taking
anybody over our knee.
But, you know,
this is how
it works out
as a church body
as grown adults.
You know,
you're put out
from the church.
Look at verse 10 again.
We're with you
that we,
you know,
we're not going
to work
neither should
we eat.
I would love
to get that
on a bumper sticker.
For we hear
that there are
some which walk
among you
disorderly,
working,
not at all.
So that's the,
again,
the disorderliness
that he's been
referring to
in the previous
verses.
Not working.
But are
busybodies.
They're idle.
They've got
a lot of time.
They're just
gossiping.
You know,
they're just
in their,
with their team
somewhere in their
squad or whatever
just running
their mouth.
You got to bring
it into the
modern vernacular,
right?
Now,
then that are
such we
command and
exhort by
the Lord Jesus
Christ that
with quietness
they work
and eat their
own bread.
You say,
why are you
turning to this?
Because it's
another example
of the sin
of God.
You know
what?
Go back to
1 Corinthians 5.
I'm sorry.
I'll read
to you from
Romans 16.
He says in
verse 17 of
Romans 16,
Now I beseech
you brethren,
mark them
which cause
divisions and
offenses
contrary to the
doctrine which
you have
learned and
avoid them.
So here's
yet another
instance where
Paul is saying
there's people
that we as a
church,
and when
somebody comes
in here and
starts preaching
false doctrine
and starts
teaching lies
and heresy,
the Bible says
a man that is
an heretic
after the first
and second
admonition
reject.
So that's
another reason
to put
somebody out
from the
church and
they're not
welcome.
Now obviously
we use
discernment.
It's not
like you're
preaching all
the subtle
nuances of
end times
prophecy.
Well let's
make sure
we're all
squared up on
that otherwise
you can't
come to
church.
Obviously
he's talking
about divisions
that are
enough to
split a
church, right?
Where it's
a very clear
distinction on
a certain
doctrine like
oh I don't
know the
Trinity.
You know
people want
to do
salvation which
is a
damnable
heresy.
They want
to come
and start
preaching some
thinly veiled
works-based
salvation like
repent of your
sins to be
saved.
Another damnable
heresy.
But even then
you know
you kind of
want to
clarify what
people believe
by that.
So obviously
he's talking
about the
major
offenses, the
major
things that
are un-Christ-like.
I'm so
un-Christ-like
because I'm
preaching what
the Bible says.
I'm so
un-Christ-like
because I'm
insisting that
we follow
what Paul
insisted we
follow in
the Bible.
Like how
am I un-Christ-like
for telling
you what
the Bible
says?
I'm confused.
So
if this is
a biblical
doctrine,
church
discipline,
it has
to be.
But here's
the thing,
obviously
not all sin
is subject
to church
discipline.
So let's
talk about
here church
discipline
in practice.
I think
I've made
my case
that it's
biblical.
I feel
like I've
turned to
several
passages that
make it
crystal clear
on this.
There are
certain
instances where
certain things
come
out.
The
easiest way
to do that
is for them
to go out.
For us
to withdraw
from them,
that is.
So now
let's talk
about this
discipline
in practice.
When
would we
actually
practice
this?
First
Corinthians
chapter number
five,
if you
went back
there,
chapter
four,
then
you must
need
to go
out of
the
world.
So
what's
he saying
here?
He's
making
it
specific
within
the
church.
It's
not
our
job
to
go
around
and
condemn
the
world.
They're
still
doing
these
things.
And
Paul's
saying,
look,
if you
had
to
separate
from
everybody
that
was
guilty
of
one
of
these
sins,
you'd
basically
just
have
to
go
around.
Jesus said,
you know,
that not
that he
would take
us out of
the world,
but he
would keep
us from it,
keep us
from that
sin that's
in the
world.
Verse
11,
but now
I've
written unto
you not
to keep
company if
any man
that is
called a
brother be
a fornicator
or a
Joe Blow
from off
the street,
but when it's
someone that's
considered a
brother in
the church.
And look,
you know,
I'm not
going to sit up
here and
try to be
so pedantic
as to say,
well,
you know,
if you've
come this
many,
have shown
up this
many times
and heard
these sermons
that,
you know,
they're
living together
in sin and
fornication.
You know,
they're committing
fornication.
They,
you know,
they got an
apartment together
and,
you know,
they're not
married and
they're
fornicating,
right?
What are we
going to do?
Well,
I would in
that instance,
you know,
probably go to
them separately
and say,
hey,
you know,
I'm going to
go to
that couple
or whatever
the instance
was.
Somebody's new
to the church,
newly saved,
doesn't know
these things,
you know,
is doing a
lot of drinking.
You know,
they're a drunkard
because that's
one of them,
right?
I would go and
explain to them,
maybe preach
a couple sermons
about it
from a biblical
point of view,
give them time
to absorb
and I'm glad that
our church is
good about this
because I've heard
and I know that
other churches
from time to time
have not been
so good about this
when it comes to
grilling people
when they walk
through the door.
You know,
some first time
visitor,
someone who's
come a handful of
times,
it's like they
want to get to
the bottom
and, you know,
and get that,
you know,
and it's a total
stranger.
Like,
imagine how
many times
it can be kind of
make people nervous.
I mean,
how much more so
when you got
some stranger going,
oh,
I see you guys
came in together
holding hands.
Are you both married?
I don't see a
ring on that finger.
It's like,
well, you know,
this is our
first time here.
It's like,
you know,
take a chill pill
there, Turbo.
Let's cool our jets
and, you know,
let's not break
out the heat lamp,
you know,
take them in the
back room here
and just start like,
are you fornicating?
Are you a drunk?
You know,
obviously,
it's if a man
that is called
a brother,
somebody who's
been faithful to the
church,
someone who's a
regular at the
church,
somebody that we
would consider,
you know,
a saved brother
in Christ.
They're not just
some random,
you know,
unsaved person
that walked in
off the street.
They're somebody
that we know
is saved,
you know,
and they've
been brought up
to speed on it,
okay?
You know,
I consider
anyone who
attends services
like three
out of three
services a month
at a minimum
a member here
basically.
That's kind
of how I gauge
it,
but that's,
you know,
I'm not going
to use that
in this instance
necessarily,
right,
to determine
whether I'm
going to church
discipline
or not,
to be honest.
Anyway,
so that's
the specific
circumstance in
which church
discipline is
practiced.
Now let's talk
about the
specific sins,
because after all
that's the name
of the sermon,
the six sins
of 1 Corinthians.
Look at
1 Corinthians 5
verse 11,
but now I've
written unto you
not to keep
company,
meaning don't
hang around,
don't have
fellowship with
a mornicator
or covetous
or an idolater
or a railer
or a drunkard
or an extortioner.
Okay,
so that's it.
You wonder
what sins will
get you kicked
out of church,
you just read them.
Now obviously
we looked in
Romans and elsewhere
where if you're
preaching things
contrary to the
doctrine which
we have learned,
if you're not
making things right,
if you've committed
a trespass according
to Matthew 18,
and you're not
hearing the witnesses,
you're not hearing,
you're not hearing
everything this morning
that I know of,
unless I'm missing
something, right?
And these are the
big six sins,
the big six, right?
Fornication,
any physical relations
outside of marriage,
and again,
not adultery,
these are two
different things
and it's important
to make that distinction.
Covetousness,
you know,
what would be
an example of this?
Maybe somebody
who just uses
church for business
connections.
They're not there
because they're
they just want to
network, right?
And look,
I don't want to
be overboard with this.
I get it.
Sometimes people
have church,
they do business
outside of church
and they come to
church and they
discuss some details
of what's going on
that week or something.
But they're not
coming here
like soliciting business.
You know,
if someone asks
for a business card
at church,
I'm not against
them handing,
like yeah,
I do that,
call me,
we can talk, right?
Well, I'm at church
right now,
I can't really
discuss that.
You know,
I'm not going
that far overboard.
What I'm saying
is when somebody
who's coming here
was just like hmm,
you know,
I wonder how many
of these ladies
I could sell
my Mary Kay products to.
You know,
I wonder how many
of these people
I could get
to my Tupperware
party and make
a killing.
That's covetousness,
right?
You're just thinking
about yourself,
trying to get gain,
all right?
I'm talking about the Catholic
church and elsewhere,
which is basically
worshiping man-made images,
you know,
graven images,
so on and so forth.
How about railing?
If someone's
going around making
false accusations
purposefully, right?
I'm not saying
if somebody
thinks somebody's
up to something
or makes an accusation
and then finds out
that they're wrong.
If they sincerely thought
that that person
was up to something
or they brought it
to someone's attention,
you know,
that's not necessarily railing.
Accusing people,
you know,
falsely,
on purpose,
okay?
That's the kind of railing
I'm talking about.
The smirching
somebody's character,
trying to just,
you know,
ruin their reputation
at church.
That is railing.
Drunkenness.
Now,
let me take a minute
and clarify this.
This is not limited
to alcohol,
okay?
People read
the Bible sometimes
and they get
these foolish notions.
Well, you know,
the Bible condemns alcohol,
but it doesn't
say anything about heroin.
People would say that.
Obviously,
that's a silly example,
but you know the one
people use a lot?
Well, it doesn't say
anything about pot.
And we all know
pot's from the earth.
You know,
it's a healer.
Yeah,
I've known too many potheads
to know that,
to make such a fool,
that pot's a healer,
okay?
Unless,
unless remembering things
is a,
is a problem,
okay?
It's not a healer,
okay?
I don't want to go
on and on about that,
but,
you know,
if someone's a pothead,
consider that drunkenness.
If someone's doing
coke or heroin,
God forbid,
and you know,
any of these things,
God forbid,
but I mean,
those are,
you know,
on the scale of drugs,
you know,
if someone's going to
do anything,
like,
I'd hope they would
be pot,
you know,
if they're guilty of,
you know,
because it's just,
it's just going to make
you lazy and eat more,
basically,
right?
But it's still drunkenness.
You're not sober-minded
if you're smoking pot,
you know,
I'm talking about somebody
who is a drunk,
and I'm,
sometimes I'm hesitant
to say these things
because I think people
think I'm giving them
a license to do things,
but I have to temper,
you know,
what we practice here.
I have to make sure
people don't go overboard
with it,
okay?
You know,
somebody has a six pack
in their fridge,
and every Friday night
they crack one open
and have a beer.
I'm not going to consider
that person a drunk.
I'm going to say,
you're in sin.
The Bible says,
don't even look at alcohol.
Literally.
Don't even look at the wine
when it giveth its color
in the cup
and it moveth itself right.
When it's a fermented
alcoholic beverage,
it shouldn't be looked at,
let alone drank.
Unless you,
and you'll say,
well, I'll just pour
my red wine
with a blindfold on.
Well, I hope you have
ceramic flooring.
You know,
make sure you put on
like a chemist's gown
or something
that you don't mind
getting dirty.
You know,
there's red wine everywhere.
You got the Merlot everywhere,
right?
So, obviously,
you know,
you're just cracking
a beer now and then,
I'm like,
oh, you're drunk,
you're out of the church.
But if someone's like,
you're day drinking,
you're getting blind drunk
every Friday night,
you're a drunk
and you will be kicked
out of this church.
You know,
you want to spark up
a J every now and then.
You're still sinning.
You're still harming your mind.
You're still a bad example
to other people around you.
It's stupid.
It's a waste of time
and money.
You know,
but I'm not going to kick
you out of the church
over that.
You know,
you're using it up,
you know,
on your way to work,
on your way back.
Yeah,
you're kicked out.
You're not sober.
It's drunkenness.
Okay?
So, obviously,
you know,
these sins are very specific,
but, you know,
we have to use discernment
and as a church body,
you know,
we have to kind of
think these things through.
And, you know,
thank God that God gives us,
you know,
has the confidence in us
to make these decisions
on our own.
He doesn't have to sit here
and list out every single
circumstances
and every single substance
The Bible's already
a long enough book, folks.
What's the last one?
Extortion.
Right?
You know, blackmail,
basically.
You know,
someone knows you're up
to something and they're like,
you're going to start
paying me a hundred bucks a month
or I'm going to expose you.
Right?
Well,
if that ever happens,
that person,
the one who's being extor-
doing the extortion
would be kicked out.
And you can see
how that might happen.
You know,
if the church was big enough
and maybe influential enough
where you had,
the church.
Right?
Of course,
a lot of these other sins
would get kicked,
most politicians kicked out too.
You know,
the drunkenness
and the fornication
and everything else.
So that is the list
of sins there.
We basically covered
these things.
The trespasses,
the six sins of
First Corinthians,
the disorderly conduct
of being a leech
and not working,
being a bum basically,
of not so providing
for yourself.
Those are really the things
that we kick out,
people out for.
And I'm going to touch
on this because
this is something
that has come up
several times over the years,
a church body.
And I want to be clear
where I stand on this.
And I've kind of changed,
you know,
I feel like I've got
a little bit more mature
understanding now
of how to approach this.
I used to like
kind of having people
in the dark about this topic
because I thought maybe,
you know,
it would keep them
from doing things.
But that kind of backfires,
I think,
because then it's people,
what I find is that
people are more afraid
of me than of God.
Okay?
And the last sin
I want to talk about,
which is not a sin
that I consider one that
can be disciplined
by the church,
is adultery.
Okay?
Now, at first blush,
you might say,
whoa,
like what are you
talking about?
Like you telling me
adulterers can come
to church?
Let me slowly
go through this,
okay,
and pay attention here,
okay?
First of all,
we have to determine
what kind of adultery
we're talking about here.
Because in the Bible,
adultery takes on
one of several forms,
three, really,
that I see.
If you would,
and don't let me
lose you now,
go over to
Matthew chapter,
actually go to
Matthew 19,
Matthew chapter 19.
First of all,
there's adultery that
we're all probably
familiar with,
which is the lust
of the eyes.
Okay?
Jesus said in
Matthew chapter number five,
you have heard
that I shall not
commit adultery,
but I say unto you
that whosoever
looketh on a woman
to lust after her
hath committed
adultery with her
already in his heart.
So,
if we were to kick
out everyone
that have performed
this kind of adultery,
we would have to
kick out every man
in the church.
You guys can say
amen right there.
You can really
leave me hanging on
that one?
I guess I'm the
only one with that problem.
Well,
maybe we have
another problem
I assume I'm talking
to a bunch of
red-blooded men here
that are straighter
than arrows.
Let me say it again.
If we kicked out
every guy that
lusted after a woman
in his heart,
we have to kick
out every guy
in this church.
Okay.
Man, I was worried
for a second.
Like, oh, we got
deacon.
Just leave him
hanging up there.
Right?
Well, I'm the
only one.
And let me say this.
You getting married
is not going
to cause this
to go away.
If they just
get married,
then they wouldn't
have to deal with
the lust of the flesh.
They wouldn't want
to look at other women
or look at porno
or whatever it is.
Let me just clue
you in on something.
That's not going to
change just because
you got married.
Now, obviously,
it could lessen
the temptation
to act on some
impulses if you had
an outlet for
those natural
God-given feelings.
But even
married men have
to make a covenant
with their eyes,
as Job,
the most righteous
man that God
had in his day.
There was none
like him in all
the earth.
A righteous and upright
man who spoke that
which is right
concerning the Lord.
Job, who said,
I have made
a covenant with
mine eyes that
I would not
worry for until
I look upon a maid.
Job had to do that.
You know,
so before you start
condemning me like,
oh, what's
the deacon up to?
What's going
through his head?
Well, I'm just
like a man like
anybody else.
And we all have
to make a covenant
with our eyes.
And that's what I do
to my wife who just
never had to deal
with that sin again.
Look, I wish that
were the case,
but that's not reality.
Never had to deal
with, you know,
having your head
turned, okay?
And look,
there's a lot of
ladies out there
that are more than
happy to turn
your head today,
okay?
And shame on them.
But, you know,
that's one form
of adultery.
That's not the
type of adultery,
you know,
that's not subject
to church discipline,
obviously, okay?
How about
marriage?
Now, this is one
where you might
kind of go,
wait a minute,
you're telling me
you can commit adultery
with somebody else's
spouse and come
to church here?
Okay, this is
how I would
approach that.
I would chalk that
up as covetousness
and kick that
person out of church,
okay?
If someone started
sleeping with
somebody else's
spouse in this
church, I would
kick them out.
I would say,
you're covetous,
right?
Because that's
literally, you know,
your spouse or
anything that is
thy neighbors, right?
If you're committing
adultery with
someone's wife,
you're coveting
that person.
You want her
for yourself,
something that's
off limits to you,
okay?
So that's my
work around for that.
And look,
if somebody
somehow could
prove to me that
an adulterer
could come here,
you know,
that kind of
adultery could take
place within a
church, I would
make it so
uncomfortable here
for that person
to come back.
You know,
I just get up and
preach the Bible
and people,
and they just
walk right out
and never come back.
Believe me,
I do it,
you know,
without even
intending to,
if I wanted to,
I could preach
people out the door,
especially an adulterer,
right?
The Bible says in
Proverbs 6,
who so commiteth
adultery with
a woman lacketh
understanding,
he that doeth it
destroyeth his
own soul,
a wound and
dishonor shall
have that
proverbial,
you know,
scarlet letter
upon you for
the rest of your
life.
Now,
maybe not out in
the world,
you know,
maybe someone
will slap you
on the back and
say,
attaboy,
you know,
yeah,
you know,
go do that,
go commit
adultery,
another notch
on the belt
out there,
another something
to talk about
on the job site,
but in God's
way,
I mean,
I can't think,
you say,
what's the worst
thing that could
happen as far as,
you know,
somebody harming
you?
When you really
think about it,
like,
adultery is
probably one of
the worst,
if not the worst
thing,
I would almost
rather somebody
killed me than
slept with my
wife.
You know,
I would rather,
honestly,
you know,
and the Bible
says that,
he will not
spare in the day
of vengeance,
that jealousy
is the rage
of a man he
will not
spare in the day
of vengeance.
Like,
you go commit
adultery with
somebody's wife,
you don't know
how the husband
is going to
react.
He could
literally kill you
in a fit of
rage and passion,
and it wouldn't
even be considered
first degree murder.
You know,
they might even
chalk it up
as manslaughter,
because people
I mean,
I don't know
how I would react.
There very well
may be blood.
I don't know.
Thankfully,
I don't worry
about it.
I don't have
to worry about it.
But my point
is that people
that commit adultery
of this nature,
like literal
adultery,
where they're
sleeping with
somebody else's
spouse, that's
a wound in her
approach that
shall not be
wiped away.
And word gets
out and everyone,
I remember I
worked for a guy
and all of his
employees knew
about it.
And what do you
think they talked
about?
What do they
think they said
about him?
Oh, so and so.
You know,
constantly cracking
jokes about it
behind his back,
constantly saying
things about it,
and that'll
never go away.
It's a pretty
big sin, okay?
So I believe,
but how would
you handle that
in the church?
I would kick
you out because
of covetous to
that point.
Or at the very
end of that,
probably aren't
really godly
upstanding people
that are concerned
with the peace
of God too much
anyway.
When they're
violating literally
one of the
Ten Commandments.
I had you in
Matthew chapter 19,
okay?
Now there's
another form of
adultery that I
have to address,
and let me just
start by saying this.
You know,
people that are
guilty of this
form of adultery,
I'm not mad at
you, I'm not
angry at you,
I'm not upset at
you.
And I want to be
clear about where
I stand and
where I believe
our church stands
on this topic of
what sins are
going to be disciplined.
Because people
have come to me
and said,
if I do this,
will I be kicked
out of the church?
Specifically,
what I'm talking
about is people
who have been
divorced and
they get remarried,
which the Bible
calls adultery,
okay?
This is crystal
clear, okay?
Matthew 5,
let me just
read to you,
which is biblical
terminology for divorce,
whosoever shall put
away his wife,
that's divorce,
let him give her
a writing of
divorcement,
but I say unto you
that whosoever
shall put away
his wife,
saving for the
cause of fornication,
causeth her to
commit adultery,
and whosoever
shall marry her,
that is divorced,
commits adultery,
okay?
So,
divorced people
getting married
is adultery,
according to scripture,
okay?
There's just
no other way
to put away his wife,
saving for the
cause of fornication,
okay?
And I don't have
the time,
I'm going long
already this morning,
the clock is down,
okay?
The clock,
the battery,
it's an atomic clock,
it has to be reset,
so blame the
clock this morning
if I go too long,
but this is
an important topic,
we have to talk
about this.
Fornication,
you know,
he's saying saving
for the cause of
fornication,
meaning when a man
goes to take
his bride on
her,
meaning she's not
virgin on her wedding
night when he's
under the impression
she was,
in that instance,
he may put her away
and remarry,
and it's not
going to be adultery.
How often do you
think that's
happening today?
Probably almost
never,
okay?
And again,
so that makes
a very clear distinction
between fornication
and adultery,
that's the one
exception,
okay?
And I'll say this
because believe it
or not,
there's people out
there,
years later,
you know,
she was,
you know,
or I knew it
and years later,
I want to pull
out this,
well,
she was a fornicator
before I got married,
it was okay for me
to divorce her.
That's not
what that's
talking about,
you see what
I'm saying?
They marry somebody
who is not
virgin, right?
And then years
later,
they get a divorce,
and they say,
well,
she wasn't,
well,
you know,
I married,
you know,
me and my wedding
night,
I'm with my wife,
and I find out
she's not virgin,
you know,
I was under
the impression
that she was,
and now I'm
finding out there's
some uncleanness
in her,
as it were,
whatever it is,
you know,
she's committed
fornication
and prior,
and you know,
I'll tell you
what though,
honey,
let's see how
this goes,
and if you burn
the muffins,
it's over.
You know,
if you don't
clean up my socks
and do all the things
that I want you to do,
then I'm just gonna,
I'm just gonna
drop the,
well,
you fornicated,
that's not how,
that's not what
it's talking about,
and you have
to say these things
because people
literally think this,
that somehow that's
what that means
in Matthew.
It's not.
It's saying in that moment,
in that instance,
that's,
you have like
that immediate moment,
whatever it is,
like the next day,
you should probably
go to the father,
you know,
back then,
that's kind of
how things work,
and say,
look,
this,
you know,
go to the pastor,
whoever married you,
and say,
we went on the
honeymoon,
this came out,
yeah,
annulled,
okay?
Mark chapter number 10,
and in the house,
the disciples asked
him again of the
same matter,
and he saith unto them,
whosoever shall put
away his wife
and marrieth another,
and whosoever
marrieth another,
and whosoever
marrieth her,
that is,
a put away from
her husband,
that comitteth
adultery,
I mean,
it's,
it's just,
you know,
the gospels are
hitting it repeatedly.
Where you are,
Matthew 19,
verse three,
the Pharisees
also came to him,
tempting him,
and saying to him,
is it lawful
for a man to put
away his wife
for every cause?
If she does
burn the mother,
if she does burn
the muffins.
And he answered
and said unto him,
Have you not read
that he which made
them at the beginning
made them male
and female?
And he said,
For this cause shall
a man leave his
father and mother
in Cleveland to
his wife,
and they twain
shall be one flesh.
Wherefore,
they are no more
one tame,
but one flesh.
What therefore
God hath joined
together,
let not man
put asunder.
Saying,
no,
it's not lawful
And this is what
people always do
when they want
to commit this sin
of being divorced
and getting remarried.
They always want
to find their
special circumstance
of why it's okay.
He saith unto them,
Moses, because
of the hardness
of your hearts,
suffered to put away
your wives,
but from the beginning
it was not so.
And he didn't say,
and Moses gave you
a pass to remarry
whoever you want.
He said,
if you're going
to put someone away,
if you're going
to divorce them,
make sure you give
them the document
that marriage
is a legal union.
Meaning there should
be contracts.
Meaning the state
is involved in marriage.
We're not one of
these people who
are like,
oh, we don't believe
in marriage licenses.
And this is literally
a bill of
divorcement here.
Okay?
That's a legal document.
That's binding.
Okay?
And he's saying,
all he's saying is,
you know,
Moses said,
because of the
hardness of your hearts.
What's he
saying there?
He's saying,
God made the male
and female and
when they come
together as man
and wife,
they are no more
twain but one flesh.
What God therefore
has joined us under,
excuse me,
joined together,
let not man
put asunder.
Saying God's intent
and purpose
and will is that
when two people
are married,
they will never
be divorced for
any reason whatsoever,
no exceptions.
Saving the cause
of fornication,
which is rare
and a very,
very narrow window
that you have.
Okay?
Which I have never
seen applied to
anybody in my
personal experience.
Okay?
But he's saying
that's God's intent.
Right?
But he's saying
because of the
hardness of your
hearts.
Right?
Because God knows
what man does.
God knows we're
flesh.
God knows we are
but dust.
God knows that
man is sinful.
I mean,
God bans polygamy
in the Old Testament.
You know,
some people think,
oh, the Bible
teaches polygamy.
God says,
well, if you're
gonna commit
polygamy,
make sure you
don't,
you know,
diss your first
wife.
Basically,
you know,
you're not
gonna treat her
more poorly
because you have
a multitude of
wives.
Right?
And that was
something kings
were guilty of.
God specifically
said above the
kings of Israel,
he shall not
multiply to
himself wives.
Why did he
say that?
Well, because
God knows
what man does.
God knows
what man does.
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does.
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Word
does.
God feels
right,
That's why it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, because God is
a God that judges in the earth. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 29. And you say, well, what kind
of judgment? What can I expect if I go out and commit the presumptuous sin of adultery
in the form of getting married after having been divorced? I don't know. And
all I would caution you is, do you really want to find out? Because I would go so
far as to say that God might just kill you. I can't believe you'd say that. Look at
1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 29. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, talking about
the Lord's Supper. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eats and drinks damnation
to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and
sickly among you. They're not considering themselves. They're not considering their
own sin in their lives, the leaven that they have in their lives, and their taking
of the Lord's Supper. They're not examining themselves, as he says in the passage, and
considering themselves, right? They're eating and drinking unworthily. And it says, as
a result of that, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. What does he
mean by sleep? Well, you know, they ate the unleavened wafer at the Lord's Supper
and carb crashed? No. He's saying they're dead. Many sleep. Because that's a reference,
you know, the Christian takes a dirt nap. We don't die, right? We go to sleep.
That's a reference to death. So Paul is very clear in 1 Corinthians 11 that
God will even kill people in certain circumstances. Am I saying that if you go commit some sin
that God's going to kill you? I'm saying I don't know. I don't know. Look at verse
31. If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. You know, if we would just
say, hey, I know this is a sin, I shouldn't do this, and judge yourself, then God wouldn't
have to judge you. When we are judged, we are chastened of the world, excuse me, of
the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. You know, God's people,
we're not going to be condemned with the world, we're not going to go to hell,
but we will be chastened in this life if we fail to judge ourselves. And all I'm saying
this morning is you don't know what the consequences will be. And that goes for any sin, by the way, okay?
I'm kind of honing in on that one, but that, you know, of adultery. But a lot of times
people commit sin and they think, well, it's only affecting me. Well, it could affect
your spouse, it could affect your children, it could affect your other relationships.
And as a result, you know, God might have to judge, and God will judge, and God does
judge. So, you know, I hope I made that very clear this morning, where we stand
on this issue, okay, of church discipline, right? What constitutes church discipline?
In what circumstances is it applicable? How would it be done? You know, we really need
to get into that. You'll find out if you ever have to do it. It's probably we never
have to. I haven't had to do it. I'll deal with it when I get there, right? If
I have to. But, you know, we understand what it is, what would constitute, what
would warrant, rather, church discipline. And when it comes to this topic of divorce
and remarriage, that does not fall within the bounds of church discipline. As I understand
the Scripture, as someone who's just trying to have integrity with the Word of God, that's
how I understand it. But do not take that to mean as it's a stamp of approval, that
there's nothing to worry about. That just because you won't get kicked out of church,
God still won't judge you, yea, even severely, harshly, okay? Let's go ahead and close
on a word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for the church, Lord. Thank you for the
local assembly. Thank you for the body of Christ here on earth. Thank you that we have
a fellowship together with you and your spirit. And Lord, thank you for the admonishments
that we have out of the Word of God. Thank you that you hold us to a standard
of righteousness, Lord, that you expect more out of us as your people. That we're
not to be as other Gentiles or yea, in some cases, even worse than Gentiles when
it comes to our living, Lord. That you expect that we live with all godliness and
righteousness, that we walk in newness of life. And Lord, I pray that you help us to do that.
Lord, help us to receive correction when it's appropriate. And Lord, help us to examine
ourselves, each and every one of us. And Lord, help us to keep us back from
presumptuous sins, Lord, that we would judge ourselves and therefore not be judged
of you. We ask these things in Christ's name, Amen. Alright, we'll go ahead and sing one more
song before we're dismissed this morning.
Jesus, Lord, help us to receive correction when it comes to our living, Lord, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of
life.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
We saw thee, we came home with fire from above. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Amen! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia!